This is a Blog by JoshHobbs.com Solar Screen Services designed to provide you with installation examples of our work.

80% verses 90% solar screen fabric

How dark are the 90% solar screens going to make it inside of my house?

I hear all the time from people telling me how worried they are the 90% fabric is going to make it extremely dark within the home.

This picture is an outstanding example that shows you 90% shade compared to 100% shade.

That is me Josh Hobbs holding up a large solar screen. The shadow of me represents 100% shade and the shadow of the solar screen represents 90% shade. Now this is with the sun to my back full on pointing down at me and the 90% solar screen I am holding up.

Now, here is a great picture that shows the sun pointing directly in through these West facing windows. All of the windows are shaded with 90% solar screens except one, one window doesn’t have a solar screen on it at all.

There on the floor you will see 0% shade, 100% shade and 90% shade.

Here’s a picture of a Westerly facing window, with the West afternoon sun peeping through a 90% solar screen.

And this is of the same window taken from a different angle. This also shows some additional Windows there in the kitchen area that are also shaded with 90% solar screens. These are west-facing windows with the sun currently positioned in the west pointing at these windows as you can tell by the shadowing.

The following picture shows where the center window has a 90% solar screen installed on it, and a window to the left and right side it that do not have solar screens on them at all. Look at the floor there and you will see Zero versus 90% shade.

As you can tell by the shadowing effect, the sun is pointing directly into those windows as this picture was taken. The sun was most likely at the 2 p.m. Location.

The second thing I hear from people that are concerned about the 90% fabric is how well will they be able to see through it. This is something that quite commonly comes up.

Here’s a picture of an office building where we are putting solar screens on all of the windows of this entire office building. Quite a few windows. This picture is of the front entrance. There to the left of the front door as you can tell there’s not a solar screen there. On the front door, above the front door, and all the windows to the right of the front door are covered by the 90% solar screens.

See how well you can see through the 90% fabric.

Here’s a great picture showing a 90% solar screen there installed on the middle window. And the two windows on either side of it without a solar screen.

So those two windows on either side of that 90% solar screen is representing 0% shade. And center window represents 90% shade.

Here’s a side-by-side picture showing what it looks like looking through the 90% versus the 80% solar screen fabric.

The 90% solar screen fabric is a tad bit more distorted than the 80%.

You can see through the 80% fabric about equal to that of looking through your current bug screens. It is extremely clear. The outward vision of our 80% solar screen fabric is extremely clear.

Here’s an example of looking through our 80% solar screen fabric. The window to the left does not solar screen on it. The center and right window have an 80% solar screen.

However, with that said I do not want to discourage you from a 90% solar screen. Our 90% Textilene solar screen fabric lends phenomenal vision. You can see through our 90% fabric extremely well. If your window gets 4 hours or more sun I unquestionably recommend the 90% fabric.

What is the shade difference between an 80% and 90% solar screen?

We recommend using the 90% solar screen fabric for Windows that get four hours or more sun. It is our recommendation to use the 90% solar screen fabric for windows that clobbered by the West afternoon sun. And then to use the 80% solar screen fabric for all other windows.

The following picture is an outstanding representation to show what 100% shade, 90% shade and 80% shade look like.

People always get worried about the 90% shade lending too much shade. Using this picture, compare the 100% shade versus the 90% shade. It is a staggering difference total shade verses 90% shade. Light is hard to totally cut out. There is a huge difference between the 100% shade and 90% shade.

This picture shows a different perspective on a different texture. This picture illustrates 100% shade, 90% shade and 80% shade and 0% shade. All shade representations are made against a grass texture.

What does it look like when you put 90% next to 80%? Can I put 90% and 80% on the same side of the house?

There is a difference, and truth be told, depending on the angle of the camera when I take the picture, there can either be little difference or a stark difference between the two.

The following picture illustrates a stark difference between the two.

It is not always all that obvious when you look at the two. This picture here again illustrates a clear example of the 80% vs 90% solar screen fabric. In this picture there is a stark difference between the two Fabrics.

However in this picture it is not all that obvious. It is often up to the way the Sun hits the fabric, and the way that my camera takes a picture. Or perhaps the angle of when I take the picture.

I have zero problem combining the 80% and 90% solar screen Fabrics as long as they are not installed right next to each other. You can put the 80% fabric on Windows 10 ft away and the 90% fabric on other windows, and it will look just fine.

For this picture, the homeowner did not want to use the 80% fabric for the windows around his front door. He felt like those windows were being shaded. Because he felt like they were being shaded he did not feel like he needed the 90% fabric.

Here on the back of this home will you see 90% solar screen fabric for the upstairs windows and the 80% solar screen fabric for the downstairs windows. As you can tell, it is not all that noticeable.